In the past, many accidental deaths of children have occurred because children were left unattended in a vehicle by an adult. Such accidents are prevalent where weather conditions outside the vehicle become extreme (too hot or too cold) and the environment in the vehicle risks the life of any infant in the vehicle.
Rossi, U.S. Pat. No. 6,104,293 disclosed a child safety detection warning system coupled to a vehicle ignition system. More recently, Papp, U.S. Pat. No. 6,819,249 disclosed yet another child detection system including a warning system for detecting the presence of a child in a vehicle. According to the Papp disclosure, the warning system is activated when the vehicle ignition is turned off and detects the presence of the child by means of pressure sensors under a child seat.
In an alternative approach to providing infant safety when the infant is placed in a safety seat of a vehicle, an adult should be present in the vehicle with the infant to assure the infant's safety. Most often the adult is the driver of the vehicle. In most cases it is the driver of the vehicle who places the infant in the vehicle. A responsible passenger may also be in the vehicle. Therefore, it is desirable for the presence of the infant to be detected by any adult in the vehicle, and that an alert occur when the adult has left the vehicle without attending to the safety needs of the infant.